 Economic Effects and EU State Aid Control: Recalibrating the Impact Standards for the Identification of Aid in Article 107(1) TFEUChristopher McMahon Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 2025, vol. 21, issue 4, 477-503 Abstract: Despite the frequent refrain that the identification of State aid depends on the effects of a measure and not is objectives, causes, or aims, the conditions for the application of the prohibition on aid that directly relate to the effects of an intervention play a relatively minor role in the analysis. These impact standards, which require that a measure causes a distortion of competition and affects trade between Member States, are easily satisfied. This article proposes changes to the application of these impact standards in Article 107(1) TFEU. It argues that the criteria relating to the distortion of competition and the effect on trade between Member States should be interpreted as distinct, higher thresholds imposing more substantial evidential burden on the Commission. This proposal draws on the existing logic of the case law and the State aid control regime to contain the notion of aid within principled and coherent limits. JEL-codes: K21 L40 L52 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jcomle:v:21:y:2025:i:4:p:477-503. Access Statistics for this article Journal of Competition Law and Economics is currently edited by Nicholas Economides, Amelia Fletcher, Michal Gal, Damien Geradin, Ioannis Lianos and Tommaso Valletti More articles in Journal of Competition Law and Economics from Oxford University Press |
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